32 minute read
Auto focus
A third act for Ricky Craven
Advertisement
NASCAR winner’s new performance vehicle dealership sets up shop in Landis
WRITTEN BY DAN HODGDON / PHOTOGRAPHY BY JON C. LAKEY
For many race fans, their lasting memory of chapter” in the form of specialty car dealership Ricky Ricky Craven comes from Darlington Race- Craven Motorsports. The new business is on South Main way in the spring of 2003, when he drove Street in Landis at an old car wash in this southern part of the No. 32 Tide-sponsored Rowan County. Pontiac Grand Prix to his Retired NASCAR driver and “I like this little town, and the people second and final NASCAR network race analyst Ricky in this little town,” Craven says. “I expect Cup Series win. His epic duel with Kurt Busch is tied for the closest finish in series history. Craven has opened a dealership in Landis that initially has specialized in one-owner, late-model Corvettes. that 30 years from now that sign will be out there.” Craven’s business opened Jan. 1 by ap-
Others may remember Craven from his pointment only, and as he builds his team, second racing-related career, serving as a website and inventory, aims to be fully studious and insightful analyst for ESPN and later FOX open by Memorial Day. Currently, Craven is focused on Sports until the end of 2020. the collection and resale of the seventh-generation Chevro-
Now Craven, 54, is beginning what he calls his “third let Corvette — the last of the front-engine models.
Top: Helmets and memorabilia from Craven’s NASCAR career. Above: Craven in his first NASCAR win at the 2001 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway in the No. 32 Tide car. Dale Jarrett was a close second. Left: A black 2019 Grand Sport Corvette in Craven’s office.
Craven sits in his Landis office not far away from a red 2019 Corvette Stingray and a black 2019 Corvette Grand Sport.
Craven first came to the area when the late NASCAR champion and beloved broadcaster Benny Parsons asked him to play golf at a country club in Kannapolis three decades ago.
Craven lived at and was affiliated with the golf course for many years, and purchased the property where his business now sits with plans to use it as storage for his three race cars. One of them, in which he scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Martinsville Speedway in 2001, is often visible from the road.
“Everybody’s been very good to me,” Craven says. “It’s a good little location. I’m optimistic that two or three years from now there will be 30 or 40 hot rods out front and we’ll have created our niche.”
He’s keenly aware of his luck in life, but his competitive spirit remains intact, as does the thoughtfulness and intelligence that made him a fierce competitor.
“I’m not just going to do this, or anything that I do, for the sake of doing it,” Craven says. “I want to do it to succeed, I want to win. I still am very competitive. So I thought, ‘All right, I can do this, but what’s going to differentiate me from hundreds and thousands of other dealers?’ “
He determined his clean slate, good piece of property and ability to sell online or on the phone gave him a solid foundation. Plus, his background in racing provides an advantage in understanding how a car feels and drives.
“I just made up my mind that I’m going to buy cars that I love and it started with Corvettes,” Craven says. “That was always my favorite car. But
A dealer plate on Craven’s 2019 Corvette Stingray. it’s going to expand to a number of other cars, it’s not just going to be what I love. There are other cars that I like but I wanted to learn all that I could about the Corvette. I’m still probably in the early innings of that, but I can’t even describe to you how much fun it’s been. I love connecting with people.”
Craven hails from Newburgh, Maine, and grew up on a dairy farm in his home state. With no desire to be a career farmer, he spent many of his early years winning races and championships around New England. He eventually made his way south in the early 1990s and continued to climb the ranks. By 1997 he was part of vaunted Hendrick Motorsports — finishing third in that year’s Daytona 500 behind teammates Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte.
However, two crashes — one at Talladega Superspeedway in 1996 and the other at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997 — nearly derailed his promising career. The second forced him to miss two races during the 1997 campaign
Celebrating our First Anniversary - May 2021! - See our selection of gift ideas for Mom - Happy Mother’s Day!
Monday - Friday 8-5 and Saturday 8-4
Since 1990, we have crafted a collection of over 100 area architectural charms.
There’s lots to unite us in our town. Of course we have differences but we can concentrate on the unity in CommUNITY
Craven, left, talks with Green Bennett, who popped into the Landis dealership for a recent visit. The men had not seen each other for several years.
AutoXpress For All Your Vehicle Wants And Needs
NC State Inspections, paintless dent removal, window tinting, oil changes, vehicle maintenance for all makes and models and much more
1501 West Innes Street Salisbury, NC 28144
and several more the following year as he dealt with post-concussion syndrome.
One could easily look at Craven’s time with Hendrick as a case of what might have been, and indeed the thought has crossed his mind. Yet he also is quick to note the power of positive thinking.
“When I go down that road it’s very unhealthy,” he says. “I share with people a key component to success is optimism, and if you have pessimism you need to eradicate it. If you’re negative you’ve got to get rid of it. It’s poison.”
During the late 1990s and 2000, Craven drove for lower-funded teams, then in 2001, he found lightning in a bottle driving for Cal Wells and PPI Motorsports, a capable but underdog organization. Craven won his first-ever Cup Series race that fall after dueling with Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett at Martinsville, then went on to score the historic victory at Darlington in 2003.
He retired from driving completely at the age of 40 in the mid 2000s.
Before long though, he realized something was missing. Craven spent a great summer soon after his retirement with his children in Maine, but upon their return to school began to feel as though he didn’t have a purpose without racing. He had thrived on speed and adrenaline all his life and now says he will never fully retire again.
Craven eventually became involved with television work and was a fixture in that world for 15 years. Still, during the COVID pause last spring he pondered what would be next in life, having seen many of his contemporaries in NASCAR say goodbye to the sport during his television tenure.
He ultimately connected with Dave Violette, a fellow Mainer who has run Corvettes North for more than 50 years in Waterville, Maine. Craven speaks highly of him and how his guidance over the past year has helped Ricky Craven Motorsports get established. In fact, he considers them teammates in many ways.
“He’s a very particular person, he’s very fussy, he loves Corvettes and he learns really fast,” Violette says of Craven. “He’s got a great personality, he’s good with people and he speaks well.”
Craven’s latest venture is not his first foray into business ownership. He owned many of his own race teams in his formative years, as well as a powersports dealership in his home
HIGHLY TRAINED EXPERTS IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.
WE STAND BEHIND EVERY TRANE.
WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED COMING AND GOING.
Dependable. Sincere. Stubbornly loyal. However you want to describe us, our mission as your independent Trane Comfort Specialist™ dealer is simple: Deliver reliable year-round comfort you and your family can count on. And because we’re stand up guys, you have our attention and support before, during and after every service or installation job. For a positive customer experience that’s as unstoppable as a Trane system, call us anytime.
704-633-8095 www.trane.com
state during his driving career. It also bore the name Ricky Craven Motorsports, until it was lost in a fire on Labor Day Weekend in 2003.
Thus, running a business in the performance industry is not totally new to Craven. However, he’s quick to say, “I don’t know what I don’t know.”
Right now, he is focused on finding a niche. So far it has been locating original-owner Corvettes, many of which are so pristine that Craven often refers to them as “jewelry.” In the past year, he has traveled the country to spend time with those owners who may be ready to buy the latest model, or are simply entering another stage in life. He helps others achieve their dreams of getting in the legendary cars.
He has even met customers in Landis. His business is located next to the popular Stringbean’s BBQ & Family Restaurant, creating a built-in base of curious individuals, while the Ricky Craven Motorsports sign, some of the world’s most spectacular cars, and his race-winning car from Martinsville also attract many visitors.
Craven is treating the business much as he did his driving career, seeing himself as an upstart underdog looking to build a team just like the one he was so proud to win with in the Cup Series.
It all works to serve his desire to both be approachable and maintain a sense of credibility.
“I think credibility is built from your reputation and your service, your quality, your product,” Craven says. “I want to be proud of the cars that we’re selling.” S
Decisions = Destiny
Together We Care.
Proactively we do programs to teach our community that: “The preparation for the game
of the life does not include the practice of
underage drinking” ~ Terry Osborne One of the Corvettes that Craven has to offer, a dark green 2014 Stingray.
Dan Hodgdon, who recently moved to Landis, is a freelance writer and also works as a content producer at Theory Communication & Design in Charlotte, a marketing agency that handles automotive and motorsports clients.
Teresa
Mechelle Kuld Monica Roane Jill Dickson
Jonah Marsh Shellie Stubbs
Janet Edwards Jason Shrader Listing, Selling and Buying
Owner, Broker In Charge
704.245.6184
Mobile: 704.433.2582
131 E. Innes St., Suite 305, Salisbury, NC 28144
www.tmrrealtyinc.com
Connor Halpin, 16, takes to the air on the Jump Line.
Will Kepley soars over a jump.
As he watches one biker after another take off, grab air, land safely on the other side and speed to the next jump, Paul Effinger thinks of the thousands of hours he has put into making this a reality. To him, the stunting, high-flying mountain bikers are poetry in motion. “It’s just my thing,” says Effinger, who when he’s not building and making improvements to the Jump Line, is riding it with his 8-year-old son, Jonah. “It’s what makes me feel good.” For the Salisbury Community Park’s Mountain Bike Trail, the Jump Line provides an extra amenity, especially popular with younger bikers. The half-mile, packed-dirt Jump line offers 17 jumps. Effinger served as chief designer and builder of the Jump Line that is off-the-beaten-track fun for beginners to experts. The accompanying Flow Line beside it also has its share of jumps, bumps, humps and rollers. Later this year, Effinger would like to redo the Flow Line to make it more of a BMX track — “fast and fun,” he says. Effinger’s dedication to the Jump Line mirrors the long-term commitment by others who have made the whole Mountain Bike Trail at Salisbury Community Park a growing destination for bikers, not to mention hikers and runners. “As places go, I’d say this is pretty good,” says Drake Kerley, a mountain biker from Troutman who recently drove to Salisbury Community Park with two friends from Hickory. “They have good flow.”
• • • tain bike trail system about 15 years ago. Sean Meyers, who took
The Mountain Bike Trail encompasses roughly 10 miles over- the photographs for this story, has been one of the people buildall, counting the single-track Main Trail with optional loops such ing trails pretty much from the beginning in 2005. as the Down-N-Dirty, Curve & Swerve, Thunder Road, Turkey Volunteers schedule weekend work days, particularly in the Loop, Rooty/Hilly Shortcut, Casey Jones, Humpty Dumpty, winter and early spring to chart out and blaze new trails, make Sleepy Hollow and the Out-N-Back Loop. improvements, rake leaves, chop out roots, dig
Again, these multi-use trails also are open to Volunteers gather for a holes, cross streams, clear dangerous limbs and walkers and runners, except for the Jump Line. weekend workday to groom a more. The trail builders — all volunteers — have given these various mountain bike routes and sections ratings of easy, moderate, difficult and new section of trail. Salisbury Community Park has become a destination for cyclists, hikers, and dirt jumpers as “I love it, man,” Meyers says. “We dig a lot of holes.” (The holes are dug so the volunteers can get down to the clay, which they use to pack berms.) advanced. The relatively new Jump Line gives volunteers have continued to Along some areas of the Casey Jones, they’ve bikers everything from easy go-arounds and roll- expand the multi-use trails installed railroad ties, which also work great for over tabletops to “very difficult” jumps, depend- within the 300-acre park. constructing berms. The berms at strategic spots ing on their level of daring and confidence. on the trail allow bikers to keep and build their
You could visit Salisbury Community Park (lo- momentum. Considerable thought goes into the cated off Hurley School Road) on a regular basis, walk its paved location of turns and erosion prevention, among other things. trail around the fishing lake, go for picnics or attend Little League “You want the trail to have flow,” Andy Pitner says. “... It’s nice ballgames and youth soccer matches without ever knowing the when you see it come together.” elaborate trail system exists in the bordering forest land, but it’s all The builders create traditional farm fords to aid in getting over part of the 300-acre park. creeks where needed. Boy Scouts from Troop 448 built an im-
Local enthusiasts began the hard work of building the moun- pressive bridge for one creek crossing.
STRENGTH
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
There’s no doubt about it: This last year has been difficult. And it got even more difficult for the F&M Bank family, with the recent passing of Paul Fisher. But one thing we know for sure is that things will get better. Because they always do. As we celebrate Mr. Paul’s life, we reflect on the legacy the Fisher family has created for the communities F&M Bank serves.
Our strength and stability can be seen even in our name, which never changes. And we must be doing something right because our clients have voted us “Best Bank” for 10 years in a row, while our employees have made us one of the “Best Places to Work” for two years in a row, and the leader of our team, Steve Fisher, was recently listed among the area’s “Most Admired CEOs.” Through good times and bad, our commitment remains the same: ‘to provide knowledgeable service with integrity and a smile, and remain focused on our communities.
Thanks for these lessons and so many more, Mr. Paul.
Andrew Randolph, one of the trail builders and an avid mountain biker, says when a trail is new, it’s kind of soft. “It will take a year for it to really mature,” he says.
According to Meyers, the Salisbury Community Park trails drain quickly after heavy rains, thanks mostly to the area’s sandy clay. “We’ve been open more than not,” he says.
A recent workday attracted Meyers, Pitner, Randolph, Randy Brown, Eric Phillips, Nancy and Leonard Wood and high schooler Levi Rosser, who has used working on the trail as a way to earn his service hours for Gray Stone Day School.
“My job today is to cut trees,” says Leonard Wood, who was identifying limbs along the Casey Jones trail that might pose safety hazards if not cleared away. He brought a chainsaw to help.
Otherwise, tools include wheelbarrows, shovels, tampers, ropes and pick axes — and it’s hard work.
Wood, retired Rowan County health director, was a road biker for a long time, but as he aged and was feeling more uncomfortable with automobiles and their drivers, “I swapped over to mountain bikes.” He also helped in the earliest stages of trail-building up to present day with people such as Zorda Tucker, Rob Holmes, Gene Dehart and Meyers, who Woods says “is kind of the glue that’s held this thing together.”
The Woods visit the Mountain Bike Trail often. Leonard rides it, and Nancy often walks, then they also pitch in on workdays.
“The older we get the more we get out here,” Nancy says.
The Woods say the trail overall is generally meant to be traveled in a clockwise direction, and riders find it to be more of a technical trek, difficult in stretches. You can go considerable miles without repeating anything. There also are a lot of entry points to the trail, if you know where to look for them.
“If you always turn left, you’ll end up where you need to go,” Pitner says. He first began mountain biking in the 1980s, fell out of it for awhile then returned with a vengeance concluding, “You know what, riding my bike through the woods is still fun.”
Brown, 59, first tried mountain biking about six years ago, when a co-worker loaned him a bike and he tried navigating his first trail. A Marine Corps veteran, Brown found he loved the freedom and exercise of mountain biking.
“This is what I want to do,” he says.
Dedicated bikers can keep up with their times on a trail or particular sections of trail through the Strava cycling app on their phones. Randolph checks the app, for example, and notes 419 different people have logged in times for the Casey Jones loop.
Overall, mountain biking is exploding in popularity and new trails are being built everywhere.
“They’re doing a lot to build community,” Pitner says of trails as a whole, and the Salisbury Community Park trail builders hope to have a connection in the future to the Carolina Thread Trail.
Above: During a volunteer workday, Randy Brown takes a shovel to a trail he also likes to ride.
Right: Paul Effinger throws a trick.
Paul Effinger grooms the Jump Line.
Nancy and Leonard Wood have been stewards of Salisbury Community Park and volunteering for over a dozen years to help with trail building and maintenance.
The dedicated group has long talked about forming a nonprofit organization, which might help in the awarding of grants for future trail construction and improvements. The trail builders communicate and run their plans through the city’s bike, greenway and pedestrian committee, and their liaison is Recreation Director Nick Aceves.
“I’ve been walking the Mountain Bike Trail since we moved here 12 years ago,” says Salisbury attorney Laura Handley, hiking a loop that includes two creek crossings. They allow her dog, Fozzie Bear (and on other days, Cruiser), to get wet and have a drink.
Handley walks the Mountain Bike Trail a couple of times a week and has a route of about 3.5 miles. “It’s just a really, really cool place to be,” she says, describing some of the wildlife she’s been able to see up close.
On her walks, Handley also has gotten to know the people who work on the trails. “They’ve done a fabulous job,” she says. “They’re a great bunch of guys.”
As of this writing, Handley and her husband were preparing for a move and selling their Salisbury home. “There are a number of things I will miss about Salisbury,” Handley says on the trail, “but this is probably the top.” • • •
John Whitaker took up mountain biking about a year ago, and it was tough at first. “I can come out here and go 10 miles now,” he says. “(But) it definitely took some adjustment.”
He likes the fresh air and exercise, and says he has lost 10 pounds thanks to his new pastime. He travels to the Mountain Bike Trail about every week, navigating the trail system while his children, Riley and Ava, enjoy the ups and downs of the Jump Line.
“I don’t try to do anything crazy like they do,’” says Ava, a sophomore in high school.
For years, former BMX racer Paul Effinger wanted to build a place to jump bikes and, at one point, he started construction on land behind his house, until it turned into a property dispute with his neighbor. Effinger considered buying six acres elsewhere for a jump line or jump park, but through folks such as Phillips, owner of Skinny Wheels, and trail builders such as Dehart, Meyers and Pitner, he connected with the city and received the go-ahead for a Jump Line at Salisbury Community Park.
Above: Meredith Abramson rides the trails. Right: Andrew Pitner clears debris.
“This is my six acres that I was looking for,” Effinger says. “They’ve given me my childhood dream.”
By May 2019, Effinger had consulted with a trail builder and called on friends with the right equipment. Over four days they had roughed out the Jump Line.
On day five, “I had my shovel in the ground, and I haven’t stopped since,” says Effinger who handbuilt a lot of the rest. “It has grown exponentially since then. I like to ride, the kids like to ride. It just benefits everyone. ... There ain’t nothing like this around.”
Effinger says he was motivated by his joy of biking and wanting this kind of experience that both he and son Jonah could do together.
“I have done an incredible amount of work,” Effinger says. “But shovel a dump truck full of dirt, and your troubles melt away. You’re too tired to be
mad. It’s spiritual work, man.”
Effinger and the Jump Line receive high marks from the users.
“It’s come a long way,” says Jesse Ciancimino, 13, of Davie County. “There’s nothing I could say could be improved. It’s a good park.”
“I love this place, it’s so much fun,” says Dustin Vanover, 15, who on this day is riding the Jump Line, but he also races for the Cox Mill High School NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) team in Cabarrus County. He and friends sometimes ride the other trails in the park as practice for the NICA team.
“This is a great trail system,’” Dustin’s dad, Kevin Vanover says. “He earns his Jump Line time by doing the trail system.”
Kevin Vanover coaches the Cox Mill NICA team, and some of those kids also belong to a Cabarrus County composite NICA team. Phillips, of Skinny Wheels, organized and coaches the Rowan Rockhounds composite NICA team for kids in grades six through 12.
“The goal is to get more kids on bikes,” Vanover says. “It’s a really good organization and all-inclusive for kids not into the normal stick-and-ball sports.”
Think of cross country running for boys and girls, only on mountain bikes.
Will Kepley, 17, of Salisbury, frequents the Jump Line, but he prefers BMX riding.
“Paul is a great guy,” Kepley says. “We may not have a skatepark, but we have this. Paul’s doing it for the community. You don’t get many places like this that are free (and of this level) of quality. I love to throw tricks, and I love to go high.”
Connor Halpin, 16, of Salisbury, is a dedicated biker who works at Skinny Wheels and helps Effinger build things on the Jump Line on occasion. He’s also a member of the Rowan Rockhounds.
“It’s a great place to come and hang out with friends,” Connor says before taking off on another run of jumps. S
Above: Laura Handley and her dog Fozzie Bear hike the trails weekly at Salisbury Community Park. Below left: Andy Abramson rides the trails. Below right: Jesse Ciancimino, left, and Dustin Vanover roar down the Jump Line.
A new sidewalk through the park leads to the Bell Tower.
The trellises will eventually be covered with vegetation.
The $12.7 million Bell Town Green in downtown Salisbury is slated to open in mid June. Here are five quick things you need to know about this transformative project: 1. The water wall. It’s 65 feet wide and 15 feet tall. It has a splash pad. It has LED lighting. It’s big.
“We decided early on we needed a wow!” says Dyke Messinger, president of the Bell Tower Green board. “That’s the water wall.”
Water features, he notes, are the number-one draw of parks. 2. Covered trellises. Right now, there are three huge circles, pretty bare, to be sure. Eventually, they’ll be covered with creeping green plants. The trellises can also be lit. Underneath will be benches and yellow Adirondack chairs. 3. A children’s play area. But it’s not what you’d expect. It’s non-traditional, Messinger says, meant to encourage creative play.
“The equipment is designed so that children can play with it in all different manners,” says Allison Merriman, a registered landscape architect with LandDesign in Charlotte, which created the park. “It’s not single-purpose.” 4. A full-service restaurant with outdoor dining. The former Wrenn House will be renovated and Messinger hopes it will be open by December 2021, and it will offer rooftop dining. Next to the restaurant are the gazebo and the refurbished Bell
Tower, where Messinger expects weddings to take place every weekend. 5. A performance stage. A 30-foot by 30-foot stage will host any variety of performances, Messinger says. “It’s open to the whole community.”
Messinger says events in the park will be about “people, protests and fun.”
In other words, this is a park for the people — however they choose to use it.
“We want to signal to this community that this is an important thing,” Messinger says. “Our goal is to build the finest park in central North Carolina. I think we’ve done that.” Bell Tower Green is under construction within the city block bounded by West Innes, South Church, West Fisher and Dyke Messinger South Jackson streets. So many other things have gone into making Bell Tower Green a reality, of course. Here’s a closer look at Merriman, the homegrown designer behind the park; the community-wide fundraising, which rallied behind a simple slogan; and how the park will address safety concerns:
‘YOU PROBABLY SHOULD
CHECK ON THIS’
Landscape architect Allison Merriman is a Rowan County native who has left her mark on this project.
“My dad read a story about the park in the Post,” Merriman says, “and he said, ‘You probably should check on this.’ So I did.”
The daughter of Charlie Walters and the late Suzie Walters, Merriman is a graduate of East Rowan High School and Clemson University. She says she doesn’t remember much about the original First Presbyterian Church building, the only remnant of which is the iconic Bell Tower. She does recall when the rest of the original church was torn down.
Through the project, she says, “I started making connections again with people I knew or my parents had known when I was growing up.” The slight stairstep of the water wall will add to the cascade effect.
Merriman is part of a three-person team with LandDesign and serves as studio leader. Her team has provided expertise in architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, handicapped accessibility and lighting.
The team studied parks all over the country to discover what would best translate to Salisbury. They looked at the Romare Bearden Park in Charlotte — which her firm also designed — and a park in Rock Hill.
She contacted members of the arts community, parks and recreation, downtown neighbors, Rowan Museum, the library, city and county officials, and college students. She asked what they wanted. The park had a booth at the 2017 Wine About Winter and asked the same question. In all, she got more than 600 responses.
Huge garden hoops lead into the park to frame the view of the water wall, the park’s signature piece. The hoops will eventually be planted with Carolina jessamine, trumpet honeysuckle and clematis. There are 28 yellow lounge chairs throughout the park.
“Our hope is that this is something that people will be proud of,” Merriman says. “We hope people are happy with it, and we hope there is something for everybody in the park.” The children’s play area will offer artfully designed play equipment.
-DIGITAL AD TARGETING STRATEGIES
Includes site retargeting, contextual targeting, search retargeting, geo-targeting down to address specific levels.
-TARGETED EMAIL MARKETING
Using massive database of verified opt-in consumers that allow marketers to reach relevant prospects.
-WEBSITE DESIGN AND HOSTING
Affordable website designs that can get any business up and running affordably, and give a business with a dated site a fresh makeover that can increase google search results.
ARE YOU REACHING CUSTOMERS?
It’s a digital world, we have digital solutions
EVERY DOLLAR COUNTED
Bell Tower Green has been truly a grassroots effort. The park received $350,000 from the State of North Carolina’s Parks and Recreation Fund and another $500,000 from the City of Salisbury. But the rest of the $12,750,000 budget was raised by private funds with the slogan, “Let’s build a park!”
“I cannot thank Fred and Alice and (the late) Bill and Nancy Stanback for serving as our lead donors,” says Messinger, president of the BTG board.
As of this writing, nearly all of the money has been raised. If the board has to borrow a small loan, that’s OK, he says.
Messinger credits the Robertson Family Foundation for its vision in buying the property from First Presbyterian Church. The park then became a non-profit corporation, and a board was assembled.
The late Paul Fisher was part of the fundraising team. There are few large projects in Rowan County that didn’t have his involvement.
“Paul was the inspiration, keeping everybody excited,” Messinger says.
A donor wall in the park will list donations from $25 up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Messinger says. “We had one boy who cut grass and made a contribution to the park.”
Paul Fisher
Clockwise from far left: Climbing equipment in the children’s play area; construction crews work on the roof for the performance stage; the amount of piping and pumps required to move the water across the face of the wall; landscape architect and Rowan County native Allison Merriman worked on the project.
Fisher knew that every dollar counted.
“He always focused on fair-share giving,” son Steve says. “He was as passionate about a $50 gift as a million-dollar gift.”
It was not an easy period to raise money, but Fisher was undeterred, his son says.
Fisher also likely knew the park would be his last big project. He died Oct. 30, 2020.
“Paul would not like us expounding on him a lot,” his wife, Sue, says. “He would like us to praise the investors for making the park happen. He always looked at the big picture. To say Paul was excited about this park was an understatement. The real excitement is we know it’s going to happen. He lived, breathed and slept this park for a long time.”
When Fisher died, people who had already given gave again in his memory, “which was very touching for my family,” Steve Fisher says. His sister, Paula Fisher Philpott, lives in Greenville, S.C.
The Bell Tower Green board will eventually deed the park to the city.
SAFETY FIRST
A big part of a park has to be about safety, and safety has been a top issue from the beginning at Bell Tower Green, Messinger says.
“If anyone is panhandling there, the police will be called immediately,” Messinger
TOP OF THE CHARTS
State-of-the-art cataract surgery and other eye surgery close to home.
• More than 60,000 procedures in over 30 years. • Area’s only surgery center focused Exclusively on eye surgery. • We have surgery staff with 30+ years of experience. Call for an appointment.
201 LePhillip Court NE | Concord
Eye Surgery & Laser Clinic 500 Lake Concord Rd. | Concord 704-782-1127
www.cabarruseye.com
EYE SURGERY AND LASER CLINIC
says. “Granted, the park is a magnet. But we think it will be self-policed by the citizens.”
The parks will have benches throughout, for example, but there will be arms in the middle to discourage sleeping on them. The park will also be lit 24 hours a day.
“No matter where you are, you can see anything in the park,” Messinger says.
Meredith Abramson chairs the park’s master plan committee. She’s also a neighbor to the park.
“Next to parking, safety was the public’s No. 1 concern,” she says. “We redesigned the large trellises to make them more open.”
She adds, “We have said many times that none of us has ever built a park, but we aren’t afraid to ask questions and learn as we go. We hope there will be a police presence, of course. But we have an intention to keep the park programmed with lots of activity. Hopefully with lots of people and activities, it will be a positive and healthy place.”
“We’re not afraid to talk about the safety of the park,” Messinger notes.”The more it’s discussed, the more people will be aware.”
As with other locations, when you’re out and about, common sense should always prevail, Abramson says. “Look around and pay attention to your surroundings.” S
To fi nd out how to get your fi nancial goals on track, contact your Edward Jones fi nancial advisor today.
Susan Shinn Turner, a frequent contributor to Salisbury the Magazine, is a freelance writer living in Raleigh.
To find out how to get your financial goals on track, contact your Edward Jones financial advisor today.
FAP-1966D-A
Jolene M Philpott, CFP®, AAMS® www.edwardjones.com
Financial Advisor Member SIPC 460 Jake Alexander Blvd West Salisbury, NC 28147-1365 704-633-8300
Over 60 years in the business, we understand kitchens & baths.
We also understand what our customers want competitive price, quality products and friendly, professional customer service. Walk-ins welcome. Mon-Fri 8:30-4:30 704-857-BATH
CORNER OF 29 NORTH & OLD BEATTY FORD RD, CHINA GROVE WWW.LANDISPLUMBING.COM
